‘Survivor’ sturdy, ‘X Factor’ up Wednesday

Shows tie head-to-head among young adults

Fox’s “The X Factor” rose in its second week Wednesday while CBS reality vet “Survivor” was still looking pretty good as it kicked off its 25th season, drawing more overall viewers than last fall’s opener.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “The X Factor” averaged a 3.5 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 and 9.4 million viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m., rising a bit from last week’s season premiere, which went up against an original hour of NBC’s competing music contest “The Voice.” The show matched “Survivor” in 18-49 for its first hour and then surged to the lead from 9 to 10 to rule as the night’s No. 1 program in the demo.

Over at CBS, “Survivor” averaged a 3.1/10 in 18-49 and 11.2 million viewers overall with its 90-minute premiere — down in the demo but up in total viewers vs. last year’s fall premiere. The island adventure series beat “X Factor” head-to-head in adults 25-54 and total viewers in their three common half-hours, with the Fox show prevailing among the youngest of adults and teens.

“Survivor” and “X Factor” didn’t face each other on this comparable night a year ago, as the Fox series bowed the following week; the CBS show instead faced formidable reality competition from NBC’s two-hour finale of “America’s Got Talent” (which did about what “X Factor” did last night in 18-49).

Based on preliminary round-offs, it’s likely that both “Survivor” and “X Factor” will gain a tick in the nationals this afternoon.

Elsewhere, CBS followed the “Survivor” premiere with the finale of summer series “Big Brother” (2.5/7 in 18-49, 7.4 million viewers overall), which was down more than 10% year to year as this edition couldn’t match the strong pace of last year. Still, it dominated the night’s final hour opposite repeat dramas on ABC and NBC.

NBC got decent numbers for repeats of “The Voice” in the 8 o’clock hour (1.7/5 in 18-49, 5.4 million viewers overall) and new drama “Revolution” in the 10 o’clock hour (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.5 million viewers overall), sandwiched by a repeat of “Law and Order: SVU” (1.2/3 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall) in its new fall timeslot.

ABC had a quiet night with encores of “The Middle” (1.1/4 in 18-49, 4.5 million viewers overall), “Suburgatory” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.5 million viewers overall), “Modern Family” (1.6/5 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall) and a second “Suburgatory” at 9:30 (1.2/3 in 18-49, 3.6 million viewers overall). Closing out the night was a repeat of May’s season finale of “Revenge” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 2.8 million viewers overall), which moves to Sundays this fall.